i just recently posted on "Adverse Drug Reactions in CFIDS/FM/ME/MS" and Bactrim in particular caused myself huge problems and is considered to have triggerd or worsen CFIDS in a supgroup of Patients. Doris Jones did research this topic and has come out with a very serious report.
Please read my post, there is a lot of Information on it from Doris Jones about Bactrim and ME.

My Advise: change the ABX immediatly and contact your doc, with the information i have posted in your hand!

Almost everytime I get a UTI I feel the pain in my kidney area too. In fact,..my whole lower back and belly hurts and is extremely tender to touch.
In general I feel like hell. It wipes me right out!

Most are DX by a urine culture .
I wonder too,..how can they/drs. tell if its only a UTI or a kidney infection to.?
The bactrim (I get that one alot) is a strong antibiotic and should knock alot of your infection out within 2-3 days. I think thats about when I start to feel a little better.

Also: Cranberry is suppose to be excellent for the urinary tract but not if your experiencing IC.
For some reason odd to me, Cranberry irritates those having IC flares.
so if you feel worse taking them,..I would'nt.
Keep an eye on it.

With a weak immune system, make cranberry a part of your life. UTI happen more easily in women since the urethea is much shorter. The bacteria is usually E. Coli. Oprah has Dr. Oz on her show from time to time, he stated that women should wipe from front to back to keep E. Coli from away from the female system. I forget the stats, but he showed that a lot of women wipe wrong!

Bactrim will work but take the cranberry too. I buy frozen cranberries from Sam's and juice them. Freezing doesn't destroy the enzymes.

Bactrim works in 24 hours.

The kidneys have pain receptors, so if they hurt make sure you pay attention to them...and let your doctor's nurse know, if they don't already.

Have you checked yourself for toxic metals? Lead & Mercury can weaken the immune system. I did a hair analysis and found Lead at 4X the threshold of healthy ppl.

Too much protien is hard on the kidneys. Tuna, pork and fish w/o scales digest their protien too rapidly. I read that pumpkin is good for kidneys.

Mine started on January 1st and I have been battling it ever since. When I first went to the doctor with it, they put me on bactrim. Unfortunatley, it did not work for me. My pain and symptoms just kept increasing, and I ended up in the ER on a Friday night (my Dr told me to since it was the weekend). Anyways, they grew a culture from my urine to find that I had a strep infection in my kidneys. Unfortunately for my particular infection, it only responds to penicillian based Rx's. I am allergic to penicillians so they put me on Keflex which is as close as you can get to penicillians. I am seeing the urologist today to get the results from a CT scan and to see if I am over it yet.

The symptoms that I have had are severe pain around the kidney areas, abdominal cramping, lower and mid back pain, fever, sweats, chills, diarreah, nausea and vomiting, frequency, and urgency. I was getting up 5-7 times during the night to go to the restroom.

Basically, they have kept a close watch by having me leave weekly urine samples, and occasional blood work to check my kidney function. I was told that bactrim is usually a great choice for most kidney infections, but there are a few strains (which are more rare) that respond better to other medications.

Do stay on top of it, though, and if you think that it has gone into your kindeys, see your doctor! Kindey infections and UTIs are not something to mess with. I think I had a UTI to begin with that I somewhat ignored and it just got worse because with FM and arthritis, I have a lot of backpain and urine frequency anyway.

I used to get frequent UTI's and my right kidney lets me know when I have one. I drink LOTS of water, juice (esp cranberry juice ... yuk), and have limited coffee. There are some better tasting cranberry juices out there (like cran-apple, cran-raspberry (yummmmm), cran-grape etc). Look for the better quality brands with the most cranberry. You want to go - go - go to the bathroom lots.

I didn't know there were caps available. Where do you get them? A health food store? I am afraid if I walk in a health food store the roof might fall in (lol). Maybe that is why I am soooo sick? Lack of healthy natural foods etc?

Do not hesitate to get medical help if you suspect a kidney infection. The above is just good advice to help ward off another one ;-)

I would say the back pain in the kidney area is a good indicator that you could have a kidney infection. Go to the doctor and be sure one way or the other.

Do you get bladder infections alot? People with Fm have to be one the look-out for it intercystial cystis because we get that alot and it too feels alot like a bladder infection. I found out I had IC after about 2 years of off and on bladder infections. The doctor would blow me off about it and I finally insisted on seeing a urology because I was in so much pain and going to the bathroom every 15 minutes. He did a bladder scope and found it right away.

Just get it checked out if you have repeated bladder infections. That`s not normal.